1. Technical Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to communication systems and more particularly to computing devices used in such communication systems.
2. Description of Related Art
Communication systems are known to support wireless and wire lined communications between wireless and/or wire lined communication devices. Such communication systems range from national and/or international cellular telephone systems to the Internet to point-to-point in-home wireless networks to radio frequency identification (RFID) systems. Each type of communication system is constructed, and hence operates, in accordance with one or more communication standards. For instance, wireless communication systems may operate in accordance with one or more standards including, but not limited to, IEEE 802.11, IEEE 802.15.4, Bluetooth, global system for mobile communications (GSM), wideband code division multiplexing (WCDMA), enhanced data rates for GSM evolution (EDGE), universal mobile telecommunications system (UMTS), long term evolution (LTE), IEEE 802.16, evolution data optimized (EV-DO), and/or variations thereof.
Depending on the type of wireless communication system, a wireless communication device, such as a cellular telephone, two-way radio, personal digital assistant (PDA), personal computer (PC), laptop computer, home entertainment equipment, RFID reader, RFID tag, et cetera communicates directly or indirectly with other wireless communication devices. For direct communications (also known as point-to-point communications), the participating wireless communication devices tune their receivers and transmitters to the same channel or channels (e.g., one of the plurality of radio frequency (RF) carriers of the wireless communication system) and communicate over that channel(s). For indirect wireless communications, each wireless communication device communicates directly with an associated base station (e.g., for cellular services) and/or an associated access point (e.g., for an in-home or in-building wireless network) via an assigned channel. To complete a communication connection between the wireless communication devices, the associated base stations and/or associated access points communicate with each other directly, via a system controller, via the public switch telephone network, via the Internet, and/or via some other wide area network.
An issue arises for indirect wireless communications when one or more of the wireless communication devices are indoors. In this instance, the structure of a building impedes wireless transmissions, which decreases the wireless communication device's ability to communication with a base station or access point. To address this issue, the wireless communication industry is creating standards for the deployment of femtocells. In general, a femtocell is a small cellular base station designed for in-building use that connects to the core mobile network via the internet. A typical femtocell supports a small number of users (e.g., 2-6 cell phones).
As femtocells are introduced to the market, there are many deployment challenges. One challenge is producing economical femtocells. Another challenge is the portability of femtocells. For example, the size and transportability of a femtocell are issues that affect the ability to easily use a femtocell at various locations (home, office, on vacation, etc.). Other challenges include processing of cellular telephone calls, interference, multiple units in overlapping femtocell coverage areas, etc.
Therefore, a need exists for a computing unit that includes femtocell functionality and that addresses one or more of the above challenges and/or other femtocell technological challenges and/or deployment challenges.